‘Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?’: The 33 Coolest One-Liners in Action Movie History

For your consideration, the most quotable moments from the most propulsive movies.

Action movies must be seen as understood. Violence is the bulk of action films, but really, it’s more complicated than that, because the mayhem arises organically from a worldview, an aesthetic, and moral standpoint that privileges kinetic problem solving. Also explosions. Action films run the gamut from complex explorations on the inevitability of conflict to very expensive, set-piece based, and ultimately plotless displays of bravado. But almost all of them feature a lead actor saying some cool shit.

An action hero is only as good as the lines he uses right after murdering someone, before murdering someone, or on his way to murder someone (while someone else is trying to murder him). We demand more of our action heroes than survival. We demand that they be human while doing inhuman (and sometimes inhumane) stuff, and the best way for them to achieve that is by being funny, ironic, or self reflective. There is, weirdly, wisdom in these one-liners. It’s like Zen and the Art of Driving a Motorcycle Through Crossfire.

Here, for your consideration are the 34 sweetest lines in action movie history.

33) “Bless me, Father, for I have just killed quite a few men.” - Desperado

32) “Then I realized maybe that’s what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn’t die.” - In Bruges

31) “Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!” - Snakes on a Plane

30) “If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.” - Taken

29) “What business is it of yours where I’m from, friendo?” - No Country for Old Men

28) “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!” - Conan the Barbarian

27) “Is it true that there’s a point on a man’s head where if you shoot it, it will blow up?” - Hot Fuzz